Look from Adam and Behold the Protestants Faith Proved, Chapter 3
CHAP. III. The firſt and right foundation of our holy Chriſtian faith.
The righteouſneſſe and mercy of God.HEre now had the juſt God occaſion and right to expell man, to deſtroy him, to damne him, and to leave him utterly to the devill: And the ſame alſo did his righteouſneſſe and truth require.Gen. 2.17. For he had ſaid, In what day ſoever thou eateſt of the fruit, thou ſhalt die the death. Contrariwiſe, the goodneſſe and mercy of God required, not utterly to ſuppreſſe man a poore and naked creature. In the meane ſeaſon was there found a way,The way of ſatisfaction before God is Chriſt. whereby the righteouſneſſe and truth of God ſhould be ſatisfied, and in the which the mercy of God ſhould ſpecially be exerciſed and declare it ſelfe: that is to ſay, Chriſt Ieſus, which is given us by the manifeſt grace of God, was offered for our ſinnes, ſatisfied and recompenced the righteouſneſſe of God, and ſo delivered us out of the bonds of the Devill. For hee died for us all, in as much as God ſaid: In what day ſoever thou eateſt thereof, thou ſhalt die the death. Therefore died Chriſt for us all, that through his death we might live, and be taken out of the kingdome of darkneſſe, and be ſet in the kingdome of the deare beloved Sonne of God.
This device of Gods wiſdome (which no doubt was determinate from everlaſting) was alſo directly opened unto Adam, after the fall, in manner following: When man had eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree, immediatly his eyes were opened; in ſo much that he was aſhamed, when he ſaw that he was naked. Hitherto had hee lived in innocencie, therefore began he now to cover himſelfe, but with ſimple clothing, which they truſted not much to (like as it is all unprofitable, that man of himſelfe will cover his ſinne withall) ſaving that they fled from the Lord, and hid themſelves from him.Sinne. But the Lord followed upon the fugitive, put him in minde of his decay, miſerie, and the life that hee was fallen from, and ſaid; Adam, where art thou? Or knoweſt thou what miſerie thou art fallen into from great felicitie? Now ſhould man have acknowledged his fault, but hee ſhewed himſelfe ſtiffe-necked. And the Lord moveth him ſtill, to ſee if he will acknowledge his ſinne, and ſaid: Who told thee that thou art naked? Yea, to helpe him in the matter, and to make him confeſſe his ſinne, hee ſaith moreover; Haſt thou not eaten of the tree of the which I forbad thee that thou ſhouldeſt not eat? But man was loth to knowledge his ſinne, and laid it firſt upon the woman his companion; and the ſame did he with ſo froward and unadviſed words,The frowardneſſe of man. that a man may eaſily ſee, that ſecretly in his heart, he wickedly and unreaſonably laid the fault upon God. For hee ſaid not onelyonly, The woman gave me of the tree to eat; but added proudly thereto, The woman which thou gaveſt me, &c. As though he ſhould ſay; Thou thy ſelfe art in the fault; if thou haddeſt not given mee the woman, I had not beene deceived.Why God gave the woman unto man. And yet the righteous God gave him not the woman to deceive him, but to bee an helpe to him. Therefore appeareth it here againe, that the ſinne of man was the more wilfull & grievous.Grace. Yet for all this did the gracious God proceed further, and would prove whether hee might finde any knowledge of the ſinne with the woman, the beginning and occaſion of the ſinne. But nothing at all could he finde. The one perſon was as the other,We all are loth to knowledge our ſelves guiltie. and they both had no power. Therefore like as Adam put all the fault to the woman, even ſo laid the woman all the fault upon the Serpent, that is, upon the Devill. Which nature doth yet, to this day, cleave in man. But what man (which hath well conſidered this foreſaid matter by himſelfe) would now ſay, or durſt thinke, that any part of the promiſe of righteouſneſſe and ſalvation of man were to bee aſcribed to his owne power and deſerving? For as much as it is ſo manifeſt, how unable and loſt a creature man is of himſelfe, which doth nothing but heape ſinne upon ſinne, and diſobedience upon diſobedience. Againe, who is ſo blinde, but he ſeeth, that all ſalvation is to be aſcribed to the onelyonly meere grace and merciemercy of God? For now followeth it firſt how God handled this matter.
Now when all the complaint was made upon the Serpent,Puniſhment. the Lord asketh and examineth the Serpent nothing at all, for the deed was open, neither was the Serpent created of God to ſpeake, and with the Devill was there no truth. Therefore doth the Lord righteouſly curſe the Serpent the Devill. Unto the bodily ſerpent alſo (whom the Devill uſed as an inſtrument) he giveth a ſore curſe, and ſaith; VponUpon thy belly ſhalt thou goe, Geneſ. 3.14.and earth ſhalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life: When this was done, it was ordained now firſt for man, that (according to the righteouſneſſe and truth of God) he ſhould bee puniſhed alſo with the curſe and with eternall death: but for the cauſes expreſſed in the beginning of this chapter, the curſe was directed unto Chriſt, who alſo with cleare words was promiſed, and ſo was life in him promiſed likewiſe.
Therefore ſaith not the Lord now; And curſed bee thou man, becauſe thou haſt done againſt my Commandement; but, And I will put enmitie betweene thee and the woman, The promiſe. Geneſ. 3.15.betweene thy ſeed and her ſeed: the ſame ſhall tread thee on the head, and thou ſhalt tread him on the heele. Which is thus much to ſay; Thou haſt uſed the woman to the deſtruction of men, ſo that from henceforth they bring death, and by kinde and nature are damned when they are borne. Therefore will I alſo uſe the woman, but to ſalvation: for of the woman ſhall a ſeed or childe bee borne,The Serpents head. which ſhall breake thy head, power and kingdome, ſinne, damnation and death: howbeit in his manhood he ſhall be trodden down and bitten. That is, Man with his tranſgreſſion hath deſerved eternall death, ſo that (after the rigour of my juſtice) hee ſhould periſh and belong to the Devill for ever: nevertheleſſe I Will have merciemercy upon him, and receive him to grace againe. But to the intent that my truth and righteouſneſſe may be ſatisfied, I will cauſe my Sonne to take the verie nature of man upon him. Then will I, that hee take upon himſelfe the curſe and damnation, and die, and with his innocent death to take away that noiſome death and curſe, and ſo to ſet the generation of man out of death into life, out of the dominion of the Devill into his owne kingdome, out of darkneſſe into light.The …re foundation of our faith. Thus the right foundation or ground of our holy faith continueth faſt and unmoved: in ſo much as all the generation of man is whole and cleanſed from ſinne, and delivered from the curſe, from the Devill and everlaſting damnation, onelyonly through the merciemercy and meere grace of God by Ieſus Chriſt.
Rom. 8.3.As touching this, Paul ſaid when hee wrote to the Romans in the 8. Chapter; God ſent his Sonne in the ſimilitude of ſinfull fleſh, and through ſinne, (that is to ſay, through the ſinne-offering and willing death of Chriſt) he condemned ſin in the fleſh. And in the firſt Epiſtle to the Corinthians, the firſt Chapter,1 Cor. 1.30. the ſame Paul ſaith, Chriſt Ieſus is appointed of God to be our wiſdome, and righteouſneſſe, and ſanctification, and redemption: that as it is written, who ſo glorieth and rejoyceth, let him glorie and rejoyce in the Lord.
But for as much as this is the firſt promiſe, and the firſt ſure Evangelion, I will now ſpeake of everie word in eſpeciall. Firſt, God calleth his Sonne our Lord Ieſus, the ſeed of the woman. A ſeed, becauſe of the verie nature of man, and becauſe that our Lord ſhould not take upon him a fantaſticall, but a verie true bodie.
But to theſe words there is added,The Goſpell of Ieſus. Geneſ. 3.15. Of the woman. For our Lord was not conceived and borne of mans ſeed, but of the Holy Ghoſt out of the Virgine Marie. Therefore cannot this ſentence be underſtood of Eve, but of the Virgine Marie. Now whereas ſhe is called a woman, it is done becauſe of the kinred: For even the daughters alſo and maidens are reckoned in the womens kinred, and yet continue undefiled virgins. God alſo hath ſpoken here diſtinctly, and ſaid not; I will put enmitie betweene thee and this woman, but betweene thee and (haiſchah) the woman, underſtanding ſome ſpeciall woman, no doubt even ſuch an one as he afterward ſet forth cleerely by Eſay, ſaying;Eſay 7.14. Behold, a virgin ſhall conceive and beare a ſonne, &c. And this word (ſeed) was alway afterward in everie renewing of this promiſe concerning Chriſt Ieſu among all the Patriarks and Prophets, rehearſed, uſed, and expreſſed, untill the time of David. Of whom the Lord afterward was called a flower, the root, ſprowting, or bloſſome of David. The holy Apoſtle Paul expoundeth this word (ſeed) clearely and plainly, and ſaith it is Chriſt, Gal. 3.Gal. 3.16. Moreover,A praiſe of the virgin Marie. it ſerveth to the praiſe of the Lords mother, that God ſaith, I will put enmitie betweene the woman and thee: for he meaneth the difference of both their natures. The Devill is proud, ſubtill, wicked, falſe, and untrue: but the mother of Chriſt is lowly, ſimple, vertuous, faithfull and upright, chaſte and cleane. And the ſame pure virgin and gracious mother hath borne unto us him that trod downe the Serpents head. The head of the Serpent is the power and kingdome of the Devill, even ſinne, the curſe and damnation. All this hath that bleſſed ſeed broken for his faithfull. All which things the holy Apoſtle Paul alſo hath taught with theſe words:Heb. 2.14. The Lord is become partaker of our fleſh and bloud, that he through death might take away the power from him, which had the Lordſhip over death, that is to ſay, the Devill; and to deliver them which through feare of death, were all their life time in bondage. For hee tooke not upon him the Angels, but the ſeed of Abraham tooke hee upon him, &c. And to the ſame meaning doth this alſo ſerve that followeth;Geneſ. 2.15. Chriſts heele. And thou ſhalt tread him on the heele. The heele is the loweſt part in man, and here it ſignifieth the moſt inferiour thing in Chriſt, even his fleſh. This hath the old Serpent the Devill perſecuted and trodden downe by his members Caiphas, Annas, Herod, and Pontius Pilate. For Peter ſaith, Chriſt hath ſuffered for us in the fleſh: 1 Pet. 4.1.The Godhead is impaſſible, and the ſoule immortall. But by this treading downe of the Lord, hath God trodden downe the kingdome of the Devill, that is to ſay, by his death hath he deſtroyed death, and brought life againe to all them that beleeve. Hereof commeth it that Chriſt ſaith himſelfe, Ioh. 12. Now is the judgement of the world, Ioh. 12.31, 32.now ſhall the Prince of this world be thruſt out. And I when I am lift up (that is to ſay, crucified) from the earth, will draw all things to me.
At the laſt ſaith the Lord, that he will put enmitie betweene the Serpent and the womans ſeed. This may wee ſee in the Devill, and his members and acts, how they are contrarie to Chriſt and his members and deeds. But how ſtrong ſoever the Serpent is, yet ſhall he be trodden downe through Chriſt and his faithfull. Hereof commeth it, that Paul ſpake ſo comfortably to the Romans, Rom. 16.Rom. 16.20. The God of peace ſhall ſhortly tread downe the Devill under your feet. And herewithall is the dutie alſo of the faithfull in Chriſt ſhortly comprehended. For as touching them that ſay,Object. Is it enough then, and is all well, when I knowledge that I am a ſinner, and ſaved through the bleſſed ſeed only? To them it is here anſwered and cleerly given to underſtand,Anſw. that all they which put their truſt in the bleſſed ſeed, take upon them the kinde of the ſeed, and hate the kinde of the Serpent, that is to ſay, ſinne and blaſphemie, and fight alway more and more againſt the world and the Devill as long as they live, yea and occupie themſelves moſt faithfully about that which is Gods will. And hereto now ſerveth it that followeth after. For when the Lord had taken away the everlaſting death, he laid upon man a temporall puniſhment, correction and diſcipline, in the which hee ſhould be exerciſed as long as hee lived upon earth. And upon the woman he laid trouble, ſorrow, and paine, when ſhe ſhould beare and bring forth children: Subjection alſo and ſervice with feare and obedience, which ſhe oweth to the man. To man, hee enjoyneth labour, for the Lord curſed the earth, and ſaid;Gen. 3.17. With ſorrow ſhalt thou get thy living all the dayes of thy life. Yea, in the ſweat of thy face ſhalt thou eat thy bread. Moreover, he layeth temporall death upon them both,Gen. 3.19. and ſaith; Earth thou art, and to earth ſhalt thou returne. Of the firſt doth Paul ſpeake alſo,1 Tim. 2.15. 1 Tim. 2. The woman ſhall be ſaved by bearing of children, if ſhe continue in faith, and in love, and in holineſſe, or cleanneſſe, and nurture. Of the ſecond ſpeaketh the ſame Paul likewiſe to the Epheſians and Theſſalonians;1 Theſſal. 4.6. Epheſ. 4.25. Let no man undermine or deceive his brother in occupying: and who ſo hath uſed falſhood and deceit, let him doe it no more, but let him rather labour with his hands ſome honeſt thing, that he may have to distribute unto ſuch as have need. Heb. 5.17.And as touching death, Paul alſo ſaith to the Hebrewes in the ninth Chapter, How that it is appointed unto men, once to die, and that even ſo Christ Ieſus was offered up and died once for all.